No matter how much research you do beforehand, nothing can fully prepare you for the reality of becoming a first-time parent — just askGretchen Rossi.
The formerReal Housewives of Orange Countystar, 41, capped off World Breastfeeding Week on Thursday morning with a snapshot of herself nursing her 4-week-old daughterSkylar Gray. And despite the serene nature of the photo, Rossi insists the real experience has been anything but.
“Breastfeeding has been no where near this magical as I imagined in my head,” Rossi captioned the image. “I have cried so many times from being frustrated, from being freaking exhausted, from the pain and horrible sore nipples (as they literally scabbed over and or were bright pinkfrom all the skin being rubbed off).”
“From the guilt of feeling like ‘I don’t want to do this anymore because it is uncomfortable, exhausting, painful, takes way to much time, and quite honestly was not anything like I imagined in my head,’ ” she went on.
Gretchen Rossi / Instagram
Gretchen Rossi and daughter Skylar.Gretchen Rossi/Instagram
“If I wasn’t at ‘my best’ I couldn’t give her ‘the best’ because my body wouldn’t cooperate or produce enough milk etc.,” Rossi said. “This was my real and raw struggle and even though I am still breastfeeding and ‘pushing through it,’ I have written a whole blog about it, hoping to help open the conversation for any othernew mommies out there who have gone through the struggle, and or who will be going through what I have this past month.”
Gretchen Rossi, Slade Smiley and daughter Skylar.Gretchen Rossi/Instagram
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Since Rossi and fiancéSlade Smileywelcomed their first child together on July 10, the new mom has been open about various struggles she has had in adjusting to life with a newborn.
On Monday, she opened up in a post on Instagram, where sheadmitted to experiencing “so much anxiety”over leaving her daughter for the first time while she attended a work engagement the day prior.
Though Rossi knew Skylar was in good hands with the newborn’s grandparents, she couldn’t help but think about her little one while she was gone and said she felt overjoyed when they finally reunited at the end of the night.
source: people.com
